spiny anteater - definition of spiny anteater in English | Oxford Dictionaries Definition of spiny anteater in English: spiny anteater another term for echidna Example sentences ‘Most recently, Sydney's mascots were: Millie, the spiny anteater; Syd, the duck-billed platypus; and Olly, the kookaburra bird.’ ‘Photographed clutching a spiny anteater with the same alacrity that he might hold a non-alcoholic beer, this may not be Harry's only prickly encounter in Australia.’ ‘The two living species of echidnas, also known as spiny anteaters, occur only in Australia and New Guinea.’ ‘Older Australians often refer to them as spiny anteaters, a name out of vogue for over a decade.’ ‘The only living descendants of monotremes are the strange duck-billed platypus of Australia and two species of spiny anteaters, or echidnas.’ ‘A distant relative of today's spiny anteater, the species lived about 106 million years ago alongside dinosaurs in what is now Australia.’ ‘There are only three living monotremes, the duck-billed platypus and two species of

 echidna, or ‘spiny anteaters’, such as the one shown at right.’ ‘The platypus and its relative, the spiny anteater (the echidna), excited his curiosity because they were the only two species left of the egg-laying mammals, the monotremes.’ Pronunciation Matching verbs to collective nouns Which of these sentences is correct?

People need to be aware of the dangers. People needs to be aware of the dangers. Which of these sentences is correct? The audience are taking their seats. The audience is taking its seats. Which of these sentences is correct? The band is the best singers I've ever heard. The band are the best singers I've ever heard. Which of these sentences is correct? The herd is out in the field. The herd are out in the field. Which of these sentences is correct? Each group is choosing a topic. Each group are choosing a topic. Which of these sentences is correct? The pride of lions are at home in the savannah. The pride of lions is at home in the savannah. Which of these sentences is correct? The crew is made up of experienced sailors. The crew are made up of experienced sailors. Which of these sentences is correct? Her class has surpassed expectations. Her class have surpassed expectations. Which of these sentences is correct? We believe the jury has reached their verdict. We believe the jury have reached their verdict. Which of these sentences is correct? Which team are going to win? Which team is going to win? You scored /10 practise again?

Retry Most popular in the world Australia Australian monotreme,Australian Echidna, Spiny Ant-eater - Aussie-Info.com 13. Cockatoo ECHIDNA The Echidna (or Spiny Ant-eater) and the Platypus share the distinction of being the only two surviving monotremes, a primitive link between the reptiles and the other more advanced mammals. Like the Platypus, the Echidna lays eggs. Echidnas are widely distributed throughout Australia, and New Guinea. In Australia they live in a variety of habitats, from dry deserts to humid rainforests or in the Australian Alps. There are several kinds of spiny ant-eater. A short-beaked species with strong and numerous spines is widely distributed throughout the mainland. The Tasmanian species is larger and more hairy. In Papua and New Guinea there is the long-beaked species, with dense fur, and whose beak is nearly twice as long as its head and has a downward curve. They look like a hedgehog or porcupine but are not related. Echidnas grow up to 50cm (20") in length.

Their backs and sides are covered with spines and coarse hair. They have small eyes and the ears have no outer part, being mere vertical slits. It has a long, black, tubular snout with a small mouth and long narrow, sticky tongue to gather up their food. The nostrils are at the tip of the snout. It has no teeth. The Echidna has short strong feet with sharp claws. It waddles when it walks. The male is larger than the female and has a spur on the ankle of the hind leg, however there is no functional poison gland. It is a useful means of distinguishing between the sexes. Echidnas are solitary and restricted to a home range. They rest in hollow logs, under stones, clumps of vegetation or in short burrows. Unlike other Australian mammals, it can be seen during the daytime. Their pattern of activity appears to be influenced by the temperature, and they may be active by day or by night. In the hotter parts of the continent they tend to be nocturnal. They are rarely seen during winter. The Echidna is not an aggressive animal. The short-beaked Echidna eats ants and termites, the New Guinea species eats worms.

The short-beaked Echidnas living in arid areas may fast for weeks when there is a shortage of insect food. The spiny ant-eater has remarkable defensive ability when it feels threatened. It rolls itself into a ball, with prickly spines out to protect its soft under-parts, and can dig itself into sand or earth with a great rapidity. If disturbed, the Echidna's instant reaction is to burrow straight downwards. Once half buried, with the massive claws of its incredibly strong limbs hooked under roots or rocks, it is almost impossible to lift up or turn over. Mating occurs from June to August, earlier in the north. At the beginning of the breeding season, a pouch develops, which is not much more than a fold of skin in the muscular walls of the abdomen. A single, small, leathery egg is produced and laid into the pouch. After about ten days the young emerges, breaking the shell with a temporary tooth on the muzzle. Once hatched, it feeds on milk secreted on to the hair from milk glands on either side of the abdomen. There are no teats. The tiny hairless baby remains in the pouch for 6-8 weeks, until its spines appear.

It remains in the burrow for about three months. The mother continues to feed it. It does not become independent until it is about one year old. Man is the only natural predator of these mammals, though they are increasingly falling prey to feral cats and dogs. Echidnas in captivity have lived for up to fifty years. Back to Australian Fauna page. Recommended... Natural History Collections: Monotremes ORDER MONOTREMATA WHAT IS A MONOTREME? Monotremes are the only group of mammals that lay eggs, i.e. they are oviparous, laying one to three eggs. They have a single posterior opening, the cloaca, for excretion and reproduction. The name monotreme means one-holed. Monotremes resemble other mammals in producing milk to nourish their young, in having three inner ear bones and a single bone in the lower jaw. Monotremes are highly specialized feeders and the adults have no teeth. Like marsupials, monotremes have lower metabolic rates than eutherian mammals but they are still endothermic and can maintain their bodies at a constant temperature regardless of environmental temperatures.

They are one of the only two groups of venomous mammals, shrews are the other group. Platypus Short-beaked echidna There are only three species of monotremes in two families: the platypus (family Ornithorhynchidae) and two species of echidna or spiny anteater (family Tachyglossidae). We have specimens of the platypus (Ornithorhynchus anatinus) and the short-beaked echidna (Tachyglossus aculeatus). Fossil monotremes are scarce. The oldest, estimated to be about 100 million years old, was found in New South Wales, Australia. Finding a fossil monotreme in Argentina suggested that monotremes once occurred across Gondwanaland (Antartica, Australia and South America). Today, monotremes occur only in Australia and New Guinea. MAP OF THE WORLD 1000+ images about Echidnas, Echidna. on Pinterest | Ants, Coarse hair and Eggs Pinterest • The world’s catalog of ideas Echidnas, Echidna.

Echidnas sometimes known as spiny anteaters, belong to the family Tachyglossidae in the monotreme order of egg-laying mammals & live in Australia. The four extant species, together with the platypus, are the only surviving members of that order and are the only extant mammals that lay eggs.Although their diet consists largely of ants and termites, they are no more closely related to the true anteaters of the Americas than to any other placental mammal 59 Pins785 Followers Classification of Living Things: Mammal Subclasses and Infraclasses Mammal Subclasses and Infraclasses Among the mammals, there are three major variations in reproductive systems. This is the basis for dividing them into subclasses and infraclasses. class: Eutheria Members of the subclass Prototheria lay eggs like most non-mammalian vertebrates. However, they feed their newborn with mammary gland secretions like all other mammals. They lack nipples, but the skin over their mammary glands exude milk for their babies. The Prototheria are also referred to as monotremes , which literally means that they have one opening for excretion and reproduction. This is similar to birds and reptiles.

The Prototheria are also similar to reptiles in some aspects of their skeletons. Notably, their legs are on the sides of their bodies rather than underneath them. This results in a reptile-like gait. There are only three surviving rare species groups of Prototheria. These are the Australian platypus and 2 echidna (spiny anteater) species of Australia and New Guinea. Genome of the Platypus --video clip from Nature.com (length = 7 mins. 30 secs.) To find out a little more about the strange lives of monotremes, select the "Echidna Reproduction" button below: Echidna Reproduction All other living mammalian species, including humans, are in the subclass Theria . They have in common the fact that they give birth to live young. Therian mammals apparently did not evolve from the Prototheria. The relatively primitive prototherian reproductive system evidently evolved after their evolutionary line separated from the other early mammals. The oldest infraclass of therian mammals is the Metatheria , or the marsupials . Their young are born very immature and cannot live without further development in the mother's pouch.

The word marsupial comes from marsupium, the Latin word for purse. Marsupials include kangaroos, koalas, opossums, and many other similar animals. Most of them are native only to Australia and New Guinea. Kangaroo, koala, and opossum (infraclass Metatheria) Most mammal species, including humans, are in the infraclass Eutheria . They are also referred to as placental mammals. Eutherian mothers carry their unborn children within the uterus where they are nourished and protected until an advanced stage is reached. This is made possible by the umbilical cord and placenta which connects the fetus to the uterus wall and enables nutrients and oxygen to get to the offspring as well as provides a means of eliminating its waste. At the same time, the placenta functions as a barrier to keep the blood cells and other components of the immune systems of the mother and her fetuses separate to prevent their destruction. Giant pandas are an exception among the placental mammals. Their babies are born at only 1/4 the size predicted for the general placental mammal pattern.

Marsupial babies are born at an even more immature stage because their rudimentary placentas are comparatively inefficient in nurturing fetuses. Placental mammals have been extremely successful in out-competing monotremes and marsupials for ecological niches . This is mostly due to the fact that their babies are born more mature, which increases their chances of survival. This is particularly true of herbivores that are predated on by carnivores. Marsupials give birth to early stage fetuses. Placental mammals give birth after fetuses are much more developed. The downside is that pregnant placental mammals must consume significantly more calories to nurture their fetuses and themselves, especially during the second half of their pregnancies. Like monotremes and marsupials, placental mammals feed their babies with milk from their mammary glands. Species that have multiple births at the same time generally have more mammary glands. The number ranges from 2 in primates, goats, sheep, and horses to 18 in pigs. Placental mammals are found on all continents, in the air, and in the seas.

Primates, cats, dogs, bears, hoofed animals, rodents, bats, seals, dolphins, and whales are among the dominant placental mammal groups today. Nearly 94% of all mammal species now are placental mammals (5,080 species out of 5,416). Whale, dolphin, monkey, and zebra (infraclass Eutheria) The next tutorial in this series, The Primates, investigates all of the Linnaean classification categories below the infraclass level for humans, apes, monkeys, and some other closely related animals. This will take us from the "order" level down to "species." NEWS: A team of researchers led by Wesley Warren at Washington University School of Medicine reported their completion of a draft of the platypus genome sequence in the May 8, 2008 issue of the journal Nature. This showed that the platypus has about 18,500 genes (about 2/3 as many as humans) and that 82% are shared with humans, mice, dogs, opossums, and chickens.

Other platypus genes show links to reptiles, including those related to egg-laying, vision, and venom production. Adult male platypuses can inject their poison with a spur just above the heel of each hind foot. Apparently, they use this as a weapon against other males during the mating season. Platypuses are also unusual in having sensors in their bills that are used to detect faint electrical fields from their prey when they hunt them under water. NEWS: The results of a 5 year global project sponsored by the Union for Conservation of Nature to survey all living mammals has been completed. The researchers concluded in October 2008 that one half of the 5487 mammal species are declining in numbers and at least 1/4 are now threatened with extinction due primarily to habitat destruction, hunting by humans, and climate change (Jan Schipper et al., Science 1165115, 2008). Brainy Echidna Proves Looks Aren’t Everything - The New York Times The New York Times Science |Brainy Echidna Proves Looks Aren’t Everything Search Photo A MIXED BAG The long-beaked echidna is hard to find but easy to appreciate.

Credit Auscape International If you wanted to push yourself to the outermost chalk line of human endurance, you might consider an ultramarathon, or a solo row across the Atlantic Ocean, or being nominated to the United States Supreme Court. Or you could try studying the long-beaked echidna, one of the oldest, rarest, shyest, silliest-looking yet potentially most illuminating mammals on earth. Muse Opiang was working as a field research officer when he became seized by a passion for the long-beaked echidna, or Zaglossus bartoni, which are found only in the tropical rain forests of New Guinea and a scattering of adjacent islands. He had seen them once or twice in captivity and in photographs — plump, terrier-size creatures abristle with so many competing notes of crane, mole , pig, turtle, tribble, Babar and boot scrubber that if they didn’t exist, nobody would think to Photoshop them.

He knew that the mosaic effect was no mere sight gag: as one of just three surviving types of the group of primitive egg-laying mammals called monotremes, the long-beaked echidna is a genuine living link between reptiles and birds on one branch, and more familiar placental mammals like ourselves on the next. Mr. Opiang also knew that, whereas members of the two other monotreme genera, the duck-billed platypus and short-beaked echidna, had been studied for years — last May, the entire genetic code of the platypus was published to great fanfare — the life of the long-beaked echidna remained obscure and unsung. “We knew nothing about it,” he said in a phone interview. “Scientists had written that it was impossible to study,” he said, adding with a laugh, “I took that as a challenge.” Advertisement Continue reading the main story In a recent issue of The Journal of Mammalogy , Mr. Opiang offers the first glimpse of the natural history and ecology of an immaculately private nocturnalist with a surprisingly well-endowed brain. And while Mr.

Opiang’s report shows that the doubters were technically wrong, the grueling details of his field methods suggest that as a workaday rule, “impossible to study” still suits Zaglossus quite well. “Muse has amazing perseverance,” said Debra Wright, who was Mr. Opiang’s honors thesis adviser. “I don’t think that anyone else on earth could have done what he did.” The research and Mr. Opiang’s training were initially supported by the Wildlife Conservation Society of the Bronx Zoo, but Mr. Opiang, who pronounces his first name Moo-say and is now working on his doctorate through the University of Tasmania, has since cofounded his own organization, the Papua New Guinea Institute of Biological Research . Photo Muse Opiang was working as a field research officer when he became seized by a passion for the long-beaked echidna. Credit David Gillison Reproductively, monotremes are like a VCR-DVD unit, an embodiment of a technology in transition.

They lay leathery eggs, as reptiles do, but then feed the so-called puggles that hatch with milk — though drizzled out of glands in the chest rather than expressed through nippled teats, and sometimes so enriched with iron that it looks pink. Monotreme sex determination also holds its allure. In most mammals, a single set of XX chromosomes signifies a girl, a set of XY specifies a boy. For reasons that remain mysterious, monotremes have multiple sets of sex chromosomes, four or more parading pairs of XXs and XYs, or something else altogether: a few of those extra sex chromosomes look suspiciously birdlike. Another avianlike feature is the cloaca, the single orifice through which an echidna or platypus voids waste, has sex and lays eggs, and by which the group gets its name. Yet through that uni-perforation, a male echnida can extrude a four-headed penis. However they conduct their affairs, monotremes do it remarkably well. Not only are they the oldest surviving mammalian group, but individual monotremes can live 50 years or longer.

Peggy Rismiller of the University of Adelaide has studied the short-beaked echidna, or spiny anteater, since 1988. “One of the females we’ve been radiotracking since 1988 is at least 45, and she’s still reproducing,” Dr. Rismiller said. Dr. Rismiller also pointed out that short-beaked echidnas are Australia’s most widely distributed mammals, adapting to life in the desert, along on the coast, in the rain forest, up above the snowline, all the while feeding on any invertebrates they can disinter. Even in summer they maintain their internal body temperature at a temperate 88 degrees Fahrenheit, and on a winter night they may lapse into a torpor, their core body thermostat dropping down as low as 40 degrees — a cryogenic skill of interest to surgeons and space enthusiasts alike. Echidnas keep their cool, all right. “They’re one of the most pacifistic mammals,” Dr. Rismiller said. “Nobody bothers them; they don’t bother anybody. There’s a lot we could learn from them.” And in that level head sits a mighty brain.

Among humans, the neocortex that allows us to reason and remember accounts for 30 percent of the brain; in echidnas, that figure is 50 percent. Advertisement Continue reading the main story If only they could stand to teach us. Short-beaked echidnas put up with people, however grudgingly, but as Mr. Opiang learned, the long-beaks of New Guinea shun all signs of human habitation, perhaps because, being twice the size of short-beaked echidnas, they are prized as bushmeat by local hunters and their dogs. “They’re not attracted to baits,” he said. “You can’t catch them with traps for tagging.” To reach them, you must hike for miles into the highlands, on treacherously steep and slippery terrain where it rains 275 inches a year. “It’s one of the wettest places on earth,” Dr. Wright said. That rain also wipes away signs of echidna foraging and denning. It took Mr. Opiang months of searching before he found his first echidna.

Then he discovered that if he followed trails of freshly dug nose pokes at night — the holes that echidnas made with their beaks as they foraged for earthworms — he could find a den where a sated echidna would be hiding. He learned to grab them under the stomach, where there were no spines. “If you hold them against yourself, they’re friendly and they won’t struggle,” he said. Over five years he managed to capture, measure and, in most cases, attach radio transmitters to 22 individuals. Among his intriguing early findings: unlike most mammals, the females are bigger than the males, and the toothless, hairless tubular beaks through which they aim their ribbony tongues are longer, too. Once again, the long-beaked echidna pokes fun at all the rules. A version of this article appears in print on , on Page D1 of the New York edition with the headline: Brainy Echidna Proves Looks Aren’t Everything.

Order Reprints | Today's Paper | Subscribe The Duck-billed Platypus and the Origin of Monotremes Introduction The duck-billed platypus (Ornithorhynchus anatinus) is a unique creationary case, and one that requires a great deal of consideration and debate. Since we can not accurately define the Biblical "kinds" we should be careful about denying that animals are transitionals. It is almost certain that groups of animals exists, that are considered by creationists to be unique kinds, which are instead related. If it were not for the breeding history of the canine, it is likely none of us would realize that the fox, wolf, hyena, etc., all belong to the same kindship group. We could easily be guilty of denying a fox-looking wolf was a transitional, but indeed that would be the case. The significance of bear-looking raccoons or visa-versa may likewise be overlooked by not recognizing these transitionals as such. Given our knowledge of evolution and the production of variability through genetic recombination , it would appear certain that no Biblical "kind" would exist today as only a single species.

Although species extinctions are certain in a compromised post-flood environment, the Biblical kinds possessed the ability to survive through evolutionary adaptations, and have evolved in most cases following the great flood into a tremendous variety of species. In addition, God created a great many varieties within each major group of organisms. The creationary community generally accept the many mammalian Families are frequently analogous to the groups defined in the Bible as "kinds". Not only are there a great many types of mammals (i.e. carnivores, rodents, cloven-hoofed), but also many Biblical kinds within each of these major groups. If would therefore seem extremely unlikely, that following their preservation from the flood, every species but one from an entire group like the placental mammals would be extinct today. That may indeed be the case with the duck-billed platypus unless this animal has evolved from another animal. Monotremes - Egg-laying Mammals The duck-billed platypus is a monotreme which are a subfamily of mammals. They feed their young with milk, but instead of suckling from a teat, the milk simply oozes from glands under the skin, and is lapped up from a patch of fur.

However, the most unique feature possessed by these mammals is their egg-laying reproduction (pictured at right) instead of live birth like all other mammals . Other than the duck-billed platypus, there is only one other monotreme living today; a small spiny anteater called an Echidna. Monotremes, like most of the marsupials on earth are found exclusively in Australia . The platypus also possesses a number of other specializations many of which are unique to the platypi. They have a duck-like bill for dabbling through mud which is actually an elongated snout, and a paddle tale similar to a beavers that it uses for swimming. The male platypus is also equipped with a poisonous spur effective for defense against predators and mating competitors. Similarities to Marsupials Monotremes possess at least two similarities to Marsupials that suggest a possible link related to their origins. First and most importantly they are both mammals that have an alternative reproductive system to the majority on earth. Neither have a placenta, and both give birth much earlier than placental mammals. The young of the marsupial matures following birth inside a pouch.

The second difference suggesting an associated origin, is the fact they are also the only other natural mammalian inhabitants of Australia. Prior to the modern introduction of placentals such as the dingo, the continent was inhabited exclusively by monotreme and marsupial mammals. Most of the 140 species of marsupials in Australia are found nowhere else in the world, and the naturally occurring marsupial in the United States is the possum, Didelphis marsupialis. This distribution pattern must be explained through natural affects upon these animals following their release from the ark. A New Creationary Theory Another fascinating fact about Marsupials is the number of species which are otherwise identical to placental animals . For example, the picture at right is of the marsupial dog which was hunted to extinction by the Australian government beginning in the late 1800s. The amazing similarities between the marsupials and placentals, in addition to the highly postflood concentration of marsupials in Australia has stimulated a new creation theory of marsupial origins . The power of genetic recombination to alter an organism is still beyond our ability to predict, but it is certain they occur by design to change organisms.

Rates of gestation, and the timing of birth are made highly variable through these reactions, and the placental system of reproduction is certainly modified as a result. It is therefore reasonable to propose that genetic recombination can alter a mammal from the placental mode of reproduction to marsupial, and the modern presence of these animals alternatively explained through regional selective pressures related to Australia. Given the similarities between monotremes and marsupials, it may likewise be logical to propose animals such as the duck-billed platypus have evolved from another placental mammal. Evolution is not driven by random genetic changes as the atheistic scientific community would have us believe. Instead genetic recombination is responsible for the variations found in nature, and through a coordinated manipulation, the changes necessary to convert a placental into the monotreme mode of reproduction may also be theoretically possible. Conclusion This creation science theory may finally lay to rest a mystery that has caused a great many people to believe in the evolution of all animals from a common ancestor. The absence of plancentals or exclusive existence of multiple marsupials and the monotremes on Australia can not be explained by a natural postflood migration from Mt. Ararat in Turkey.

This very fact has even caused a great many Christians to instead accept that these inhabitants must have evolved in Australia from a single ancestor. Truly, the postflood fauna in Australia may be otherwise inexplicable, and the ability to change from placental reproduction to marsupial and monotreme has simply been overlooked by secular scientists who do not perceive that evolution occurs by design. God clearly designed DNA editing machinery within our cells, and given our level of understanding of these reactions, it is theoretically possible that intentional changes could alter the genes of organisms in the coordinated manner necessary to accomplish this change in several animals due to common selective pressures. Given the tremendous similarity between the marsupial and placental twins, it would seem that the obvious explanation has been overlooked in this case. This is almost certainly due to the atheistic presupposition that mutations are responsible for the genetic diversity driving evolution. Such random variability could not possibly assemble the genetic code necessary to create the same reproductive system in multiple organism, but intelligently designed machinery is expected to generate the same certain outcome under similar circumstances. There are most certainly evolutionary accomplishments evident today that cannot be explained by random mutations, and instead creation science theory alone is able to solve such mysteries.

The Enigma of the Echidna - National Wildlife Federation The Enigma of the Echidna Scientists are continually perplexed by this egg-laying Australian mammal’s unpredictable behavior and strange physical characteristics 04-01-2003 // Doug Stewart ONE OF THE MOST REMARKABLE SIGHTS that biologist Peggy Rismiller has seen in her years exploring the Australian bush is that of an echidna sunbathing. The short-beaked echidna, or spiny anteater, ordinarily resembles a spiky ball, like some kind of terrestrial sea urchin. To warm up on a cool morning, however, it will stretch out on the ground, its body as flat as roadkill, and lift its spines to let in sunlight. "It's amazing to see," Rismiller says. "It looks like a rug with spines." On a continent teeming with weird mammals, the echidna is one of the weirdest. It has a beak like a bird, spines like a hedgehog, eggs like a reptile, the pouch of a marsupial and the life span of an elephant. Elusive and unpredictable, echidnas continue to perplex the scientific world with their oddities.

Though normally wary of humans, a number of them reversed course and invaded the suburban streets and yards of Canberra in the fall of 1967—why, no one knows. "They're such an independent, enigmatic animal," says Rismiller. "Every time you think you know what they're going to do, they do something different." Photo: © MIKE MCKELVEY POUCHED EGG: Along with the platypus, the echidna is the world's only living monotreme, an order of egg-laying mammals found only in Australasia. After mating, an adult female lays a single egg about the size of a U.S. dime or an Australian five-cent coin directly into her pouch. The newborn puggle that hatches about ten days later stays in the pouch for several weeks to suckle. Eventually, as it reaches maturity, it will grow to about the size of a human infant. "They're so difficult to study," says researcher Peggy Rismiller, examining a puggle (above).

"They're hard to find, they're solitary, they make no noise and they travel great distances." Along with the platypus, the echidna is the world's only living monotreme, an order of egg-laying mammals found solely in Australasia. (The term comes from these mammals' single opening for excretion and reproduction, more like birds or reptiles than other mammals.) Monotremes branched off from the mammalian family tree some 120 million years ago and are the oldest of the 26 surviving mammalian orders. "Echidna" commonly refers to the short-beaked echidna, which is found across Australia. A second genus, the long-beaked echidna, lives in Papua New Guinea. The first detailed description of the echidna was published in England in 1792. A decade later, another account included a meticulous drawing by Captain William Bligh, who had feasted on roast echidna years earlier during a post-mutiny stopover in Australia. Bligh had the foresight to sketch the strange animal before eating it. Not until 1884 did the scientific world learn to its amazement that both platypuses and echidnas laid eggs.

Since then, Australians have adopted the short-beaked echidna as a national mascot of sorts. It's among the most widely, if sparsely, distributed of all Australian mammals—wandering and burrowing its way across rain forest, desert, bush, swamp and seashore. The echidna's total numbers are unknown. "You can't do the usual mammalian trapping surveys because you can't trap them," says Rismiller. "Even food won't lure them." Concerned that their future welfare is not assured, Australia has officially listed them as a protected species. In her 15 years of living in a pristine area for wildlife not far from Adelaide, Rismiller has become the world's foremost authority on the short-beaked echidna. Rismiller and her partner, biologist Mike McKelvey, work at the rustic Pelican Lagoon Research and Wildlife Centre on South Australia's remote Kangaroo Island. The two American expatriates, who are both now Australian citizens, operate the facility as a nonprofit educational trust that specializes in low-impact field research. It's the sort of place where computers are solar-powered and rain provides drinking water. Volunteers sweep bat guano from the tables each morning.

Rismiller works only with live, free-ranging animals, which is a challenge as echidnas are hard to find and harder to catch. When she arrived, she and her colleagues searched for 300 hours before encountering their first one. Small, dark, wary and virtually silent, an echidna in plain sight can resemble a low, nondescript bush. Rismiller now sees to it that a quarter of the four dozen echidnas roaming the Pelican Lagoon area of Kangaroo Island carry radio transmitters epoxied to a spine on their backs. (Traditional radio collars won't fit, echidnas being essentially neckless.) Still, tracking even radio-tagged echidnas isn't easy. "They're built low to the ground," says McKelvey, "and they spend a lot of time in burrows and caves, which block the signal." Moreover, a single spine can be a precarious attachment point. Says Rismiller, "I call one of the echidnas here our $10,000 male because he's shed so many transmitters." He may have learned to scrape them off between rocks.

Rismiller, who also studies tiger snakes, admits she's obsessed with echidnas. "They're such wonderful, attractive, enigmatic animals. They have a rolling, waddling gait. Their spines make them look formidable, but they're really quite gentle animals. To see their little beaks and their little eyes looking up at you, it's Lord of the Rings all over. You think: 'Here is a wise little gnome.'" Adult echidnas are roughly the size and weight of newborn humans, but helpless they're not. Their short legs, heavy, backward-pointing rear claws, and broad shoulders are well-suited to powerful digging. Alone among mammals, echidnas can dig straight down, disappearing in minutes. Natural escape artists, echidnas can also dig through wooden garage doors and heavy plastic storage bins. Metal walls are a better deterrent, but they're not unbreachable, as researchers at the University of Melbourne discovered recently. A group of captive echidnas there were confined to a pen with corrugated-iron walls.

"After three days," Rismiller says, "the researchers found the drinking bowls had been stacked in a corner, and all the echidnas had climbed out." While hatchlings have an egg tooth for breaking out of the shell, adults are utterly toothless. They use their hard, skin-covered beaks, an extension of the skull, to root around vegetation, plow through soil and pry up rocks in a search for ants, termites, worms, grubs and other food. The short-beaked echidna's scientific name, Tachyglossus aculeatus, is apt: fast-tongued and spiny. The animal slurps up prey with a long sticky tongue that darts in and out of its beak. Aussies may refer to echidnas casually as "porkies," but their spines have little in common with a porcupine's quills. Echidna spines lack barbs and are never thrown from the body. What's more, a porcupine can't use its quills to climb a rock crevice or right itself when upended, as an echidna can. "Echidna spines are actually modified hairs," says Rismiller.

"They have a long root that goes into a special muscle layer no other mammal has." The animals can thus move spines individually or in small groups—to protect their heads, for example. "When you pick one up, the spines on its head will stand up straight while those on its back will lay flat." This muscle control isn't always voluntary. "During courtship, a male will stroke the spines on a female, and you'll see her spines undulating. It's very sensuous really." Rismiller suspects that spines may aid in the species' survival in an unexpected way. Like other mammals, echidnas are hairy and milk-bearing, but their blood is only lukewarm. An active echidna's innards usually range between 88 and 91.5 degrees F, or 31 to 33 C.

(An inactive echidna can be much cooler; to conserve energy, it can go into torpor, letting its body drop to as low as a few degrees above freezing.) "Cold doesn't deter them," says Rismiller, "but if their body temperature rises above 33 Celsius [well below what's normal for humans] heat stress will kill them." Echidnas have no sweat pores, nor do they pant. Might their spines, so deeply embedded in well-vascularized tissue, be capable of dissipating excess heat? The idea for now is conjecture, but Rismiller hopes to pursue it. Much about echidna behavior is a mystery. "It's because they're so difficult to study," she says. "They're hard to find, they're solitary, they make no noise and they travel great distances." Their wanderlust is one reason they're ill-suited to captivity. Attempts to relocate them inevitably fail; even after a 30-kilometer drive, says McKelvey, "the animal is back almost before the humans are." Echidnas have no routines. They're active day or night, regardless of weather.

They lack permanent dens, choosing instead to sleep in whatever burrow or cave is handy. They don't socialize and they haven't been known to fight. They forage in a home territory as large as 250 acres yet don't defend it. They tend to ignore any creatures they encounter, except when the time comes to mate. During the Australian winter, as many as a dozen males form slow-moving mating trains, shuffling silently along in a lethargic parade led by a pheromone-emitting female. Trains can persist for more than a month, with males dropping out and rejoining, according to Rismiller, who first observed this behavior in detail. A receptive female may end up clinging to a tree trunk with her forelimbs while the males dig a circular trench around the tree as deep as ten inches. (Like crop circles, these tree trenches had mystified Australians for years.) The males then compete for mating honors. "There's no aggression at all," says Rismiller. "The males just push each other around, head to head. As each one is pushed away, it leaves.

It's quite incredible to watch." After this process of elimination, the winner lies on his side in the trench partway underneath the female, and they mate—slowly and, as is said of porcupines, carefully. If the female isn't game, she rolls into a defensive ball, and that's that. After a three-week gestation, the female lays a single soft leathery egg about the size of an American dime. Rismiller discovered that the female does this while curled into a sitting position and lays the egg directly into her pouch. This shallow, temporary pocket is formed by a swelling of the mammary glands and the action of the stomach muscles. The baby echidna, or puggle, hatches in ten and a half days and remains in the pouch to suckle. Like a newborn kangaroo, the puggle is essentially a mobile embryo: Its extremities are transparent, its eyes and backbone unformed, its forepaws capable of grasping but its hind legs mere buds. In two weeks, the hatchling gains 100 times its birth weight, growing from a third of a gram to about 30 grams.

At seven or eight weeks, when the puggle starts to grow spines, the mother evicts it from her pouch (understandably) and places it in a nursery burrow. Thereafter, she visits for feedings every five or six days. In about seven months, the juvenile has a full complement of spines and claws and is foraging on its own. Thanks to its armored exterior, an adult echidna has few native predators. On Kangaroo Island it has none, though a large monitor lizard called Rosenberg's goanna preys on spineless burrow young. Introduced predators are a bigger threat. Feral cats attack burrowing young as well as torpid adults. On the mainland, predators include dogs, feral pigs, foxes and dingoes. The echidnas' customary defense is to roll into a ball. Foxes and dingoes reportedly flip them onto their backs, urinate on them to make them uncurl, then pounce. Outside conservation areas, habitat loss and fast-moving vehicles are perhaps the species' gravest threat, however.

(An echidna spine can puncture a tire, but it's always after the animal has died.) According to Echidna Watch, an Australian monitoring group, one in five echidna sightings is of a roadkill. Those animals that evade mishaps compensate for their low-speed, slow-breeding life-style by often living 50 years or more. A Kangaroo Island local told Rismiller he had been watching the same full-grown echidna wander about his farm since he was a boy 45 years earlier. When she asked how he could be sure it was the same animal, he replied, "Easy. It only has three legs." A final oddity about these very odd creatures: The echidna's neocortex, associated with reasoning and personality in humans, accounts for nearly half its brain's volume, compared to about 30 percent in so-called higher mammals. "What are they doing with it, that's the question," says Rismiller. "I think they're using it to play tricks on me, that's what I think. They use it to get rid of their transmitters." Massachusetts journalist Doug Stewart's profile of bird-guide author David Sibley also appears in this issue.

Echidna | San Diego Zoo Animals & Plants San Diego Zoo Animals & Plants Tachyglossus aculeatus, Zaglossus bruijnii, Zaglossus attenboroughi, Zaglossus bartoni Class: Mammalia (Mammals) Species: T. aculeatus, Z. bruijnii, Z. attenboroughi, Z. bartoni ABOUT The echidna (ih-KID-na), or spiny anteater, is an unusual mammal. It is so different from any other that it still puzzles researchers and scientists. The echidna has remained unchanged since prehistoric times, finding ways to survive while other species became extinct. But what really sets the echidna apart from other mammals? Female echidnas lay eggs! Egg-laying mammals are called monotremes. There are only three monotremes in the world: the long-beaked echidna, short-beaked echidna, and duck-billed platypus. It is found throughout Australia, Tasmania and New Guinea, from the highlands to the deserts to the forests. It is a solitary creature and minds its own business.

The echidna may be active during the day, evening, or both, depending on the season and food sources. The echidna has a tiny face with small eyes and a long nose, sometimes called a beak. The eyes don’t help the echidna see well, but its acute sense of hearing and smell give this unusual mammal the information it needs to know to survive. The short-beaked echidna has dark fur almost completely hidden by a covering of hollow, barbless quills, called spines, on its back and sides. Long-beaked echidnas have little fur and more visible spines. The beige-and-black spines on all four species, which are about 2 inches (5 centimeters) long, help camouflage the echidna in the brush. The echidna’s short legs are ideal for digging. The hind legs point backward, with an extra-long claw on the second toe that can be used to “comb” or scratch out dirt and bugs that get wedged between the echidna’s spines. Its powerful front feet can dig straight down into the earth. The claws on its front legs are also useful for tearing open termite mounds. Digging in for protection.

Other than fires and drought, the main threats to the slow-moving echidna are feral dogs and cats as well as dingoes and foxes. Cars also kill hundreds of these animals each year on the roadways of Australia. The echidna has three options when faced with danger: run away on its short, stubby legs, dig, or curl up. The echidna’s digging ability is usually its best bet. Some say it can dig a hole just as fast as a human using a shovel can! The echidna digs straight into the dirt until only a spiny rear end can be seen, making it almost impossible for a predator to grab and pull it out. It can also protect itself by curling up into a tight, spiky ball, hiding its face and feet. Surprisingly, the echidna is an excellent swimmer and tree climber, too! HABITAT AND DIET Echidnas inhabit scrubland, desert, and montane forest in Australia, Tasmania, Indonesia, and Papua New Guinea. Digging for food and shelter is key, so areas with loose topsoil work well, though these animals can plow through hard-packed dirt as well.

The nostrils at the tip of the beak help the echidna sniff out its next meal. The rubbery snout is also sensitive to electrical signals from an insect’s body. It is strong enough to break open hollow logs and plow up the forest floor in search of insects. An echidna’s typical day begins by finding something to eat. Like anteaters, the echidna has no teeth. So how does it eat? The echidna has a long, sticky tongue to catch and chew its food: ants, termites, or earthworms. Once food is located, the echidna tears into the mound or nest with its large, sharp claws and then uses the 6-inch (15-centimeter) tongue to lap up the bugs or worms. Hard pads at the base of the tongue and on the roof of the mouth grind the food into a paste for swallowing. Echidnas at the San Diego Zoo are fed a “milkshake” made of ground-up leaf eater biscuits and dog kibble, with water added to form a thick paste to lick up. FAMILY LIFE Echidna breeding season is during July and August.

An adult female echidna usually lays a single, leathery egg once a year. She rolls the newly laid egg, about the size of a grape, into a deep pocket, or pouch, on her belly to keep it safe. Ten days later, the baby echidna, called a puggle, hatches. It is smaller than a jelly bean! The puggle uses its tiny, see-through claws to grip the special hairs within the mother’s pouch. The mother does not have nipples the way other mammals do. Instead, the little puggle laps up milk that the mother’s body secretes from special glands in her pouch. Fortunately for the mother, the puggle does not yet have spines sticking out! It remains in the pouch until its spines begin to break through its skin, at about 53 days. Then the mother puts the puggle into a burrow, where she returns to feed it every 5 to 10 days until it is big enough to go out on its own, at about 7 months old. The echidna is one of the Earth’s oldest surviving species. Yet there are many questions scientists still have about this elusive animal. What is its life span in the wild?

When is an echidna old enough to start a family? What is the mother/puggle relationship like? What are its daily habits? It’s fun to realize that there is still so much to learn about animals. The echidna has many surprises yet to reveal! AT THE ZOO The San Diego Zoo’s first echidnas arrived from Australia in 1956. Acquired from a private donation, the pair lived in the Zoo’s Children’s Zoo for many years before an astute keeper noted that the larger one, named Erma, might be a “he” rather than a “she.” A thorough veterinary exam revealed the truth, and Erma was renamed Victor. He continued to live in the Children’s Zoo as our oldest mammal and served as a wonderful echidna ambassador until his passing in 2012. He was believed to be at least 58 years old. The Zoo currently has two short-beaked echidnas that serve as animal ambassadors. They can be seen during special animal presentations or in their exhibit in Australian Outback. LIFE SPAN

Question: There are only two surviving examples of monotremes. One is the echidna (or spiny anteater). What is the other?
Answer: Platypus